Sustainability is the practice of creating a better environment for everybody. The Green Team focuses mainly on supporting this concept and sharing it with others, and influencing them to make decisions for the better rather than those that can harm our planet.
An example of sustainability is renewable energy. Renewable energy is, like shown, using a natural force such as wind to create energy. This avoids burning coal, which causes air pollution, one factor that contributes to global warming. Oregon holds the record for the most of this clean energy used, with 45% of its energy uses sustainable. Alaska, however, uses only .77% renewable energy. Did you know? Oklahoma uses only 3% renewable energy!
Another example is recycling. This is very well known, but sadly, most of the items that end up in a landfill are, in fact, recyclable. One consequence of this is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which spans over an area three times as big as France. This is one of the main goals of the Green Team: to teach about recycling. By recycling, we save resources, because new resources do not need to be used.
Did you know? When you recycle an aluminum can, you save enough energy to power a light bulb for three hours!
A final example of sustainability is planting trees. As you know, trees create the oxygen we breathe. So many trees are being cut down, in the rainforest alone 2.4 acres are lost each second. Fortunately, many companies are attempting to make their products more sustainable. For example, the Crayola company uses reforested (they plant a new tree for every tree they use for colored pencils) wood for some materials.
Did you know? Rain forests are responsible for 28% of our oxygen!
By joining Green Team, or simply recycling that old soda bottle, you can help make a difference in the world's sustainability.